Phoebe Cates

"Kids today are much more independent than their parents were. We're really into getting jobs and we mature sexually much earlier than a generation ago. Or, at least, we are involved in sex earlier." -Phoebe Cates

Though in showbiz all her life, Phoebe's main claim to fame has come from her work in seminal 1980s movies, like the teen comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High and the classic horror-comedy Gremlins.

SEX APPEAL

Phoebe's brand of bright-eyed girlishness made her the wet dream of many a frustrated 1980s adolescent. With her beauty and vital energy, she personified an irresistible mix of innocence and worldliness.

She bared it all in her first movie, Paradise, while she was still a teenager -- so it's impossible to think that Phoebe was ever shy. "In this business, if a girl wants a career, she has to be willing to strip," she has matter-of-factly claimed. "If you've got a good bod, then why not show it?" Phoebe gets no argument from us.

SUCCESS

Phoebe Cates deserves credit for making the successful jump from modeling to acting in her youth, and proving herself with serious dramatic roles on stage and screen. Although her work has been sporadic over the last decade, no one can accuse her of being a one-hit wonder.

With her acting career on the backburner, Cates' fame has understandably dimmed. "People keep coming up to me and saying, 'Aren't you the woman from Lois & Clark?'" she comments. Phoebe's mostly known to fans of the films from her '80s heyday, but there are a few die-hards. For example, punk band Fenix TX paid homage to her with the song title "Phoebe Cates" -- although, who's really heard of Fenix TX?

From her debut in Paradise and her memorable performance in the cult hit Fast Times at Ridgemont High, to her role in the comedy Drop Dead Fred, Phoebe Cates is still one of Hollywood's classic beauties.

Phoebe Cates Biography

Phoebe Belle Katz was born on July 16th, 1963 in New York City, into a family with Filipino and Russian Jewish roots. Her father and uncle were both producers (who later adopted the stage name "Cates"), so from a young age Phoebe was accustomed to the show business milieu. She attended Professional Children's School in New York City as well as the School of American Ballet, until a knee injury in 1977 forced her to quit.

In the late '70s, Cates had moderate success as a teen model, doing commercials and appearing in magazines like Seventeen. She scored her first movie role in a Blue Lagoon knockoff called Paradise (1982). She played Sarah, a young aristocrat stranded with a young man in a desert oasis, who predictably falls in love with the man. "I was only 17 when I did my nude scenes," Phoebe later explained. "They were serious and more difficult because they were not easily justified."

fast times

But Paradise didn't torpedo Phoebe's career. Also in 1982, she appeared in the hit teen comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which she followed up with Private School the next year. In 1984, she played the love interest in the Steven Spielberg production Gremlins, directed by Joe Dante. She wrapped up the '80s with Date with an Angel (1987), Bright Lights, Big City (1988), Shag (1989), Heart of Dixie (1989), and the popular Gremlins sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990).

Cates also worked in theater throughout this time. In 1984, she made her New York debut in Joseph Papp's off-Broadway production of The Nest of the Wood Grouse. Phoebe followed that up with David Hwang's Rich Relations at the Second Stage and a one-act festival at the Manhattan Punchline. Later highlights included the role of Nina in the La Jolla Playhouse production of Chekhov's The Sea Gull, Juliet in Chicago's Goodman Theatre production of Romeo and Juliet, and an appearance in Much Ado About Nothing at New York's Public Theatre.

a domestic role

In 1989, Phoebe married Oscar-winning actor Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda), and had a cameo appearance in his 1990 film, I Love You to Death. She was soon pregnant with a son, Owen, who was born October 14th, 1991. A daughter, Greta, was born on March 21st, 1994. Not surprisingly, Phoebe's acting output slowed: After starring in Princess Caraboo (1994) with Kline, she went into semi-retirement from films to raise their children. However, she returned in 2001 with a role in The Anniversary Party.

Lately, Cates and her family divide their time between a country estate in upstate New York and a luxury penthouse in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Phoebe seems content to let her husband stay in the spotlight, supporting Kline's ongoing stage and screen roles. When not tending to the children, Phoebe attends openings and benefits, and makes time to host dinner parties for her celebrity friends.